Heartland Institute Reacts to Wisconsin’s Refusal to Set Up Obamacare Insurance Exchange

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced Friday that his state will not set up an insurance exchange under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The decision brings the list of those declining to implement Obamacare exchanges to nearly half the 50 states.
The following statements from health care policy and legal experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution.

Washington bureaucrats will have no one to blame but themselves for the what comes next, and the upheaval in the marketplace which will inevitably arise under their new nationalized regime.

-- Benjamin Domenech, The Heartland Institute

CHICAGO, IL (PRWEB)November 16, 2012

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced Friday that his state will not set up an insurance exchange under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The decision brings the list of those declining to implement Obamacare exchanges to nearly half the 50 states.

The following statements from health care policy and legal experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Tammy Nash at tnash(at)heartland.org and 312/377-4000. After regular business hours, contact Jim Lakely at jlakely(at)heartland.org and 312/731-9364.

“A bipartisan group of governors in at least 20 states are rejecting the implementation of Obamacare's exchanges because they understand they would be creating a new bureaucracy which would have to be funded by higher taxes while providing them with no real flexibility or authority to meet the needs of their citizens. President Obama's law will now be implemented by the people who actually have all the power in the new system: the federal government.

“Washington bureaucrats will have no one to blame but themselves for the what comes next, and the upheaval in the marketplace which will inevitably arise under their new nationalized regime.”

“Gov. Walker used solid reasoning in choosing to defer health insurance exchange implementation to the federal government. A state-implemented exchange would not grant Wisconsin any further control over its health care system. Instead, the federal government will be held responsible for the system that has failed to substantially reduce costs in every other capacity.”

“Today, Wisconsin joins a number of other states – among them, Alaska, Kansas, Louisiana, South Carolina – that are refusing to establish state insurance exchanges. Wisconsin already assists those residents who can't afford to buy private health insurance or those who can't get it due to pre-existing conditions. The result is 90 percent of its citizens have health insurance. And, as Walker points out, further flexibility and free market forces can lead to further accomplishments.”

The Heartland Institute is a 28-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.